Changes to medical confidentiality

Significant changes to how your medical data is handled are happening now. Medical data that was previously under the control of your GP is going to be uploaded to a central location with in the NHS and shared with other organisations for a variety of purposes.

Some of you may have had a 'junk mail' style leaflet through your door entitled 'Better infomation means better care'. Unfortunately, NHS England – the commissioning body that now runs the NHS in England – has decided not to include an opt out form with the leaflet and the information in it says you should “speak to your GP practice” if you want to stop your or your family’s confidential medical information being uploaded and passed on.

Fortunately the medConfidential campaign (medconfidential.org) have provided a form and a letter that you can hand in to your GP practice.

The choice to opt out is yours. You don't have to justify it but if you want to keep your records private and confidential then you need to act now.

We'll be discussing how to opt-out and stop your data from being uploaded. We'll also be discussing the implications of this change to how medical data will be used and shared and how it can be beneficial in some ways and damaging in others.

I know that there were a few entries left over from the project showcase last month so if you've got anything you want to talk about then please mention it in the comments.

6:30 for 7:00 in the meeting room upstairs in the Shakespeare on Gibralter Street

The meeting room that we have booked is the smaller of the two function rooms upstairs in the Shakespeare. It's the first door on the left at the top of the stairs.

We're about:

Monthly meet-ups for anyone interested in digital rights: copyright, freedom of expression, censorship, parody, privacy, open data, free software... see the Open Rights Group website for the kind of issues we discuss.